Gracie
"Oh Gracie, It was so good to see you again. You and Matt should just stay for Christmas," Miranda hugged me really tight, not wanting to let me go.
"Ma, Gracie is a married woman now. She's not someone we can easily steal now. She has to spend her first Christmas with her husband alone." Steve chuckled as he put his arm around Miranda's shoulders.
"But she will always be my baby girl." Miranda sniffled as she reluctantly let me go.
"Of course I'll always be your baby girl, Miranda. That won't ever change. I love you." I kissed her cheek.
"I love you too, baby girl."
"C'mon now, honey, enough with the drama. Gracie is not going anywhere out of our reach." Danny reached out to give me a warm embrace. "Have fun in Hawaii, alright?"
"Thanks, Danny. And I definitely will." I hugged Danny back.
"Well, enjoy your first Christmas together as a married couple." Miranda looked at Matt who was standing by my side. "Matt, don't ever hesitate to come and visit us, okay? You're as much as a family now as Gracie and Steve are to us."
"Thank you, Miranda. Gracie and I will visit you and Danny more often." Matt put his arms around me and squeezed my shoulder.
"Well, mom, dad, I'll just see Matt and Gracie out." Steve started to the door.
I hugged Miranda and Danny one last time before I headed out of the house with Matt.
Once we were out, Aaron was already in front of the Haydens' house, waiting in the car. I looked up at Steve and gave him a big hug as I kissed him on the cheek, "Merry Christmas, Steve. I'll see you in the New Year."
Steve returned my hug really tight as he kissed my hair, "Merry Christmas to you too, Gracie. Have fun in Hawaii." He jerked his head at Matt who was standing behind me. "You take care of our family treasure, alright?"
I pulled out of the hug as I glanced back to see Matt grinning, "I'll make sure she returns safe and sound." He interlaced his hand with mine as we got in the car.
The airport was, no surprise, a big mayhem once again. Flashes of camera were all over us as we headed inside. I seriously was not overwhelmed anymore by the amount of cameras and microphones shoved in my face. It had been like this ever since I even knew how to think and speak. I had lived all my life raising my head up high as if I had nothing to be ashamed about. My parents taught me the only way to survive in this kind of life was not letting them get to you. These people would write stuff about you regardless if they were right or wrong, but they would still know nothing about you other than what you portray to them. I had been living my life up to my parents' standards. I never had any scandals in my life; even my mental state and activities for the last two years, I was able to keep it from the press. I had been very careful not to tarnish my parents' name. It was the only way I could ever repay them. But being born into this kind of environment didn't stop me from wishing that sometimes I had some privacy of my own, where I could freely walk in an airport or a mall or any public places without these reporters swarming around me.
As we were walking towards the check-in desk, I was startled when Matt's arm suddenly circled around my shoulders. His grip tightened and pulled me closer to him as he felt me jerk away in surprise. I looked up at him and saw his expressionless face, his eyes covered in black shades, yet I could see how his jaw appeared rigid, most likely annoyed at the mayhem around us. I put my head down and leaned my body on his side as a smile touched on my face. I had never had anyone this close to me in front of the media like this. Steve would usually just touch my back to guide my way while security guards were all over me, but he had never put his arm around me in public places like this as he knew I always felt claustrophobic with too many people around me. I didn't feel claustrophobic with Matt walking way too close to me though. In fact I felt protected and safe. His touch made me feel like I didn't have to walk this suffocating path alone.
"I'm sorry you had to go through all that," I apologized to Matt as we settled in our seats. The plane just took off.
Matt turned his head at me, "It will take sometime to get used to it, I guess."
I touched his hand that was resting on his lap. "You're probably regretting being married to me now."
He chuckled as he turned over his hand and interlaced his hand with mine. "I married you for this, remember? Don't worry, Gracie. I'm a big boy. I can suck it up." He then grinned at me.
I laughed, then I put my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. "Did you really mean what you said to Miranda and Danny?"
"What did I say?"
"That we would come visit them together?"
"Yeah, of course. They were nice people. I could tell where Steve got his manners from. You and Steve were lucky to have parents who looked after you really well."
"That's why I tried my very best to be very truthful to them. I didn't want to lie even to them, Matt. I love them. I know by introducing you to them was a big lie to consider but I wanted to show them that I am genuinely happy. That the child they treated as if their own daughter grew up very well and married to a man close to perfection that they could ever have for her."
Matt squeezed my hand, "We'll visit them often, I promise."
"Thanks. And thanks for always agreeing to my childish requests."
"You married me because I agreed I'd do your childish requests."
I laughed as I started to doze off, "Yeah, that's true."
A few moments later, I felt a hand grazing on my cheek.
"Gracie? Hey, we're almost here." My eyes flew open as Matt's hand tucked a few strands of my hair, that were in my face, behind my ear. I sat up and looked around my surrounding.
"How long was I asleep?" I tried to fix my hair which I just knew was an entire mess.
"Uhmm I would say 11 hours. We're about to land." A smile started to form on Matt's face as he watched me hopelessly combing my hair with hand. "Your hair looks okay, don't worry."
I glared at him. Puhlease I know my hair more than you do. "Oh god, I was asleep the entire flight?" I looked at his shoulder. "Oh my god, did I drool on your shirt?"
He shrugged. "It wasn't the first time."
My hand stilled on my hair as I jaw dropped at his statement. Then I slapped his chest, as he laughed really hard. "I never drooled on you."
"Yeah you do. I'd wake up every morning with a wet chest."
"OH MY GOD!" I squealed as the image of me literally drooling all over Matt flashed in my mind.
He laughed some more as he grabbed my wrist and leaned into me to give me a light kiss on the lips. "I was just kidding. You looked cute looking so horrified. But nope, you didn't drool on my shirt. Never drooled on me. And you slept through the flight probably because you were too tired. I actually just woke up too when I heard the announcement."
When we reached our resort, it brought back the memories I had here with Matt. Hot and steamy memories. The thought of what we might be doing the entire holiday excited me. We would be here longer than our first three days together. I would get to have Matt all to myself for more than three days. Matt said he would be meeting me up on the beach, and so I took all my time to prepare. I put on a two piece bikini I bought just last week. Looking at myself in the mirror, I couldn't help but feel a little insecure of myself. I had mostly gained the weight I lost when I was locked up in London but I was still too skinny enough and totally unattractive. I looked like I was in a boy's body. It didn't help that my breasts were too small (gosh, even smaller that I lost my weight) to even have some cleavage. The bikini was pretty, a purple string one, and would look really pretty on women but me. I was debating whether to change for a tankini one instead but heck, I'd just go with this.
I found Matt lying on the sand clad only in his swim trunks. He had his shades on and both his hands are on the back of his head. He had a gorgeous body. Even back in high school, I remembered he would walk around the school shirtless after his football practice and every woman would ogle over him and his toned body. I hated him, yes, but that didn't stop me from ogling his body too. I walked up to his side. He propped his elbows in the sand as he half-sat up. He removed his shades and gazed at me from head to toe. I felt like squirming under his scrutinized gaze.
"Wow." He got up and he continued looking at me, with lust, if I should say. "Wow. You look, wow, sexy."
I rolled my eyes as I snort. "Matt, I know I don't have a model's body. You didn't have to say all that to make me feel better. I look horrible in this bikini."
Matt frowned at me. "What are you talking about? You look sexy as hell in that bikini." He paused for a moment then smiled at me as if he thought of a better idea. "As sexy as you are in that bikini, I can't wait to get you out of that though."
I rolled my eyes at him again then I started to walk, "Yeah, yeah,"
"What, you don't believe me?" Matt caught my pace walked beside me while frowning at me, again.
"Matt. I do read newspapers and tabloids y'know. The papers for the past few weeks were all about me being scarily anorexic." I held up my hand to air quote the word anorexic.
"You just lost a few pounds. That didn't make you anorexic, plus you're starting to gain weight again."
"I bet I scared the hell out of you the first time you saw me again in six months."
That stopped his tracks. I looked over me and saw Matt looking even more confused and angry at the same time. Well, what I did say was true. Telling me I was beautiful and sexy all the time wasn't part of our agreement. I didn't marry him to praise me shamelessly.
He chuckled a few moments later then started shaking his head as he walked up to me.
"What, I was right, wasn't I?" I looked up to him as he moved even closer to me invading my personal space.
"Gracie, I don't know about you but," He bent a little to me as he suddenly grabbed my ass, I squealed in surprise, then pulled me to his groin. God, he was hard. "I'm so fucking hard right now even though what we're talking right now about is a complete mood killer. I'm trying to figure out why you think you're unattractive yet my body responds like this as I'm looking at you. And my dick doesn't lie."
I circled my arms around his neck as I pressed my body even closer to him. I could feel him pulsing through his trunks on my belly. "I'm sorry. I guess I was just insecure that you wouldn't find me attractive or that you wouldn't touch me anymore."
He bent his head to give me one long kiss as he squeezed my ass, grinding his pelvis into me. "Gracie, you might not have the body of a model, but you're attractive in your own way. And I like you just fine."
We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming for a few hours, and then we went to a flea market to get something to cook for dinner. Not bad for day one.
I finished watching the dishes then I found Matt in the balcony, staring out at the beach.
"Nice view, huh." I stood beside Matt, appreciating the beauty outside.
"Best spot in here." He then looked at me, "I remembered our first night here."
I was suddenly embarrassed discussing this, "Were you actually joking around when you waited for me to get out of the bathroom?"
"Yeah. I wanted to tease you, and then you came out and I didn't feel like teasing you anymore."
I looked into his eyes and I saw longing. That he wanted to touch me as much as I wanted to touch him. I tiptoed to kiss him on the mouth. He quickly wrapped his arms around me, holding me tighter as we deepened the kiss. I was feeling tired after the flight and the swimming activities that lasted till nighttime but one hot kiss from him and I wasn't so tired anymore.